PORTABLE PROTECTION : COMPANIES DEVELOP LOCKS TO SECURE PC INVESTMENTS.

Byline: Phillip Robinson San Jose Mercury News 

Computer security gadgets take a page from the world of bicycle locks and car alarms.

The best-known of the portable computer locks is Kensington Microware's Master Lock Universal Notebook Security System ($45, 800-535-4242, http://www.kensington.com), a 6-foot-long plastic-sheathed metal cable and a small, barrel-shape key lock. It strongly resembles a bicycle lock. You loop the cable around something immobile and then plug the lock into the tiny ``security slot'' that Kensington claims is now on 65 percent of computers - check Kensington's Web site for a compatibility chart.

One interesting alarm, Port's Defcon 1 ($50, 800-242-3133, http://www.port.com), is about the size of a portable-computer's AC adapter box. At the top is a three-digit combination lock and the end of a metal cable. You can pull up to 6 feet of cable out of the Defcon box, loop it around something, and then insert it back into another hole on the box. Only the combination can release it - and you set the combination. Any disturbance to the lock will start a chirping sound and, if motion continues, a loud siren. (I don't know why, but even with this added feature, my personal preference leans to the Kensington kit. Maybe I'm just prejudiced against car alarms.)

PC Guardian (800-288-8126, http://www.pcguardian.com) and Datamation Systems (201-393-0004, www.pc-security.com) sell a wide range of locks and alarms. One intriguing product from Datamation is called ``CompuTrace Theft Recovery System'' for PCs with DOS or Windows and a modem. I haven't tried it, but the idea is that it inserts a hidden, virus-like program into the software that regularly, and secretly, calls a toll-free tracking line. Sounds cool, anyway.

Versa Lock's (800-248-5625) Comp-U-Lock locks the notebook down by adhesive plates. The company's SonicPro Alarm ($70) is a motion sensor with a numeric keypad. Versa Lock also sells a glue-and-lock combo for $60 that will hold any computer down to a table top - to prevent theft and to protect against earthquake damage (that computer won't be wiggling off the table and falling to the floor).

CMS Technologies' (http://www.chrimar.com) NoteLock adds notebook computer cabling to its EtherLock 10T for any computer, which can alert you by an e-mail message, a pager message or an old-fashioned siren sound of disconnection from the network.

Some companies also sell disk-drive locks.

These insert into a floppy drive and cannot be removed without a key. That prevents anyone from copying files from your computer to a floppy, or from putting a virus-infected floppy into your machine. Secure-It (800-451-7592, http://www.secure-it.com) makes floppy and CD-ROM locks as well as cables.

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Photo: (Color) No caption (A PC locked up)